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Jim Carrey StarsThe Cable Guy

Broderick is having problems with his girl friend, and while Carrey treats this as a leveling force, as if all men have such problems, he shows a very different attitude toward relationships and how to cope with them than does Broderick. Broderick is willing to dally with another woman when one seems interested in him, but Carrey has arranged this dalliance with a prostitute without telling Broderick.

The culture in which these characters exist does involve one leveling force--television. Everyone in the film wants cable and wants to watch essentially the same show--specifically, the Court Tv presentation of the twin murder case, a fictional account of two twins who once starred in a television comedy series and who grew up to find they were no longer wanted as stars. One kills the other and is placed on trial. This trial recurs throughout the film in Court TV broadcasts and news accounts. This trial is especially significant given that the twins were once TV comedy stars, and in this way the trial and their comedy show links the audience in collective memories and current prurient interest in the fate of the remaining twin. Near the end of the film, the camera seeks out people from all walks of life, all of whom are linked in that they are watching the end of the trial and expectantly waiting to hear the verdict. When the cable signal goes out, these different social classes are linked in their exasperation--their link with the outside world has been cut off, and they are left to fend for themselves.

The Carrey character is a representative of a TV-fed generation, and in a flashback we see that as a child, he was left in front of the television by his mother. He asks for her attention, and she leaves him alone because she is more concerned about her own needs than his. The film does not make a lot out of this, but it seems evident that the intent is to blame television for shaping this particular character and for givi...